Monday, February 1, 2010

Becerra Looks For Senate To Play Catch-Up

By Ronald Brownstein  

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.

As House Democrats moved through bill after bill last year, they could perhaps be forgiven for looking to the "cooling saucer" of the Senate with frustration. "We jumped almost every time" that President Obama asked, said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. "Financial regulatory reform? We jumped. We're looking for the Senate to jump a little bit, too."

Becerra was speaking as part of a "Congressional Debriefing" hosted by National Journal and The Atlantic the morning after Obama's State of the Union address. In addition to giving his take on the speech, the lawmaker spoke about working with the upper chamber in the year ahead. Edited excerpts follow.

NJ: From your point of view, what is the way forward that gives the greatest likelihood of passing health care?

Becerra: I'd say the way forward here is to take the best ideas in the Senate and House bill, bring them forward and get a vote. In the House we think we can pass this. In the Senate -- I won't think for the Senate. But we believe that if we go with the best ideas that are contained in two bills, you have a product that the American people will be proud of, with real health care reform.

NJ: The discussion last week indicated that the changes the House leadership wants in the bill would increase the cost by $300 billion in addition to the Senate bill. Is that correct, and what are some of the fixes to the Senate bill you've asked for?

Becerra: Remember, everything we pass will have to be within the budget. All of it will be a cost savings over the long-term, 10-year window.... What we will look to do is make sure, for example on the House side, that we're not taxing employee benefits to pay for health care. There is absolutely little if no support for taxing Americans' work benefits for health care.

NJ: Beyond the tax on health care plans, what else needs to happen?

Becerra: It has to be affordable. The speaker has made it very clear in the House that we will not vote for any bill unless it really is an affordable plan to be offered to every American. And the Senate bill -- I've got to tell you, I'm not a big fan of what the Senate health care bill looks like. I don't believe that we're going to be able to get a vote out of the House unless there's a really affordable program.

NJ: What's your overall reaction to President Obama's State of the Union address?

Becerra: I would use the president's own words: I had hoped he'd be audacious, and he was. But remember, in 2008, most Americans were economically in the bottom of the 9th inning. They were facing bankruptcy, they couldn't get credit, they were losing their jobs. People were losing jobs a year ago today to the tune of 24,000 a day....

This was not a time to play small ball. So the president set out an ambitious agenda, and he should stick by it, because this is not a time to start trying to hit singles when you're down 10 runs in the bottom of the 9th. I believe the president is going to try to move forward with an ambitious agenda. He's going to pivot a bit, he's going to try to accommodate, he's going to seek out bipartisan support, but the moment he decides to play small ball is the moment he loses a lot of American support....

It's one of those things where the president has said, "The American public wants us to jump," when he got elected. In the House, we jumped. He said, "I need an economic recovery package." We jumped. He said, "I need a health care plan." We jumped. He said, "We need new policies that will drive new jobs in a green, clean environment-friendly sector for our energy." We jumped. We jumped almost every time. Financial regulatory reform? We jumped. We're looking for the Senate to jump a little bit here, too.

NJ: What is your interpretation of what happened in Massachusetts?

Becerra: Everyday Americans across the country, and certainly in Massachusetts, are saying "get it done." I don't blame them. Our problem in the House is that we got it done. Once again, we're looking for a little help from our partners in the Senate. The public is absolutely right.

NJ: But is there at all a message to Democrats that they have overestimated the public tolerance for a wave of government activism?

Becerra: When you give [Americans] the scope of what the federal government wants to do, they gasp. The public gasps. But when you break it up, they give you support.

So whether it's the health care bill or it's the economic recovery package, when you go line-by-line and tell them, "With health care, we're trying to make sure insurance companies cannot deny you health care because of your pre-existing conditions," they say yes. When we tell them, "We want to make sure that you can afford to pay for that premium,' they say yes. When we tell them, 'We want you to have, out there in the marketplace, real choices and real competition,' they say yes. So when you tell them what the bill contains, they say yes.

The problem is, over the last seven months they've heard everything under the sun about what the bill contains, and therefore they don't know what's in it.